Eyecare Tips

Sleeping sickness creates a metabolic 'fingerprint' in the blood and urine, which could enable a new test to be developed to diagnose the disease, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis, is usually fatal if it is not diagnosed and treated in time. The disease is newly detected in around 30,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa every year. Researchers estimate that the real number of cases...

Researchers in Japan have found that female mice produced by using genetic material from two mothers but no father live significantly longer than mice with the normal mix of maternal and paternal genes. Their findings provide the first evidence that sperm genes may have a detrimental effect on lifespan in mammals.
The research, which is published online today (Wednesday 2 December) in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1], found that mice created from two female...

Somnambulism (sleepwalking), which usually involves misperception and unresponsiveness to the environment, mental confusion and amnesia about sleepwalking episodes, affects up to 4 percent of adults. There has been a sharp rise in the number of studies relating sleepwalking to aggressive and injurious behaviors, including homicides, but unlike most sleep disorders, sleepwalking is diagnosed on the basis of the patient's clinical history, since there is no proven method of confirming the diagnosi...

Patients with tuberculosis in the West African country of Senegal who participated in an intervention program that included improved communication with health personnel and community involvement had higher cure and treatment completion rates, according to a study in the January 24/31 issue of JAMA.
Poor adherence to treatment remains a major obstacle in the global fight against tuberculosis (TB). Reasons for nonadherence are complex and involve more than the patients' personal characteristics a...

The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) would like to thank patients, renal professionals, exhibitors and sponsors for their participation in the Association's 36th Annual National Convention. The event held Sept. 3-5 in Denver, Colo., attracted nearly 200 attendees from across the country.
AAKP held its first National Convention in 1973. Over time, it has become the largest event of its kind where patients and renal professionals gather for three days of educational sessions and fu...